saskatoons in bloom

I've been so focussed on getting my veggies in that I didn't notice that the saskatoon bushes are blooming. Of course, the bushes were put in by my mom and dad. That's one of the best thing about living in their house - having something tangible appear each spring to remind me of their hard work and love.

Looks like there will be a good crop of saskatoons this year. There never was enough for a pie when Mom and Dad were still with us. Or, maybe there would have been if we wouldn't have stood around visiting in the garden, stuffing handfuls of the berries into our mouths as we talked.

Good times. Good memories.

Yay! A rain day!

I'm kinda disappointed. I had garden plans for today - I wanted to get my pole and bush beans planted (and make a support for the pole beans); my tomato seedlings transplanted; and at least one more of my raised beds weeded. But we really need the rain.

My Auntie Mary (my mom's sister) stopped in yesterday, as she usually does on Saturday mornings. She said that according to the moon, yesterday was the day to plant anything that produces a hanging "fruit" (eg cucumbers and zucchini). Oopsie. I had been weeding bed by bed, not really paying attention to which bed got weeded first. The bed for the zucchini was done, but the bed for the cukes was not. I managed to get that bed weeded, and all my cuke and zuke seeds in yesterday. Whew.

As far as the veggies go, I have this left to do:

- weed last veggie bed

- plant pole beans and bush beans in the same bed and create a support for the pole beans

- transplant tomato seedlings into raised bed

- figure out how to plant onions and garlic - I haven't planted either before and there are no instructions on the seed packages regarding row spacing or bulb depth

- plant sugar snap peas and beets in the same raised bed

- transplant hot pepper seedlings into barrels

- decide if I want to remove one row of zucchini from the zuke bed (there are two rows planted) and plant two rows of kohlrabi instead

All in all, not that much left to do to finish up the veggies. Hopefully, I will get them done on Tuesday.

Then I can start transplanting the flowers :-)

I'm not even going to think about the weeds in the ground right now :P

Flowers, baby, flowers :-D

April Showers bring ... May snow flurries

It's kind of hard to get excited about digging your hand through fresh dirt, or putting your tomato seedlings out when there's snow coming down. Yes, I know all the arguments: "At least it's moisture"; "It won't stay very long"; "Well this is Saskatchewan after all". Still, it puts a bit of a damper (ba da dum!) on my outdoor work.

The Weather Network says that it's supposed to be seasonably warm this weekend (daily highs of 17/18C - 63/64F). But it also says there is a chance of snow again on Tuesday May 19th.

Okay, Mother Nature, you're pushing it now.

Yes, my fuschias are safe inside; and yes, we huddle over the tiki torches for warmth ;-)

Happy Mother's Day!

It's so apt that I start this blog on Mother's Day.

Gardening season traditionally starts during the May long weekend here in Saskatchewan (Canada's Victoria Day, the third weekend of May). My mom always asked for bedding plants for Mother's Day - her favourites were petunias and impatiens.

My beautiful mom is no longer with us - she passed away in November 2005. I just can't stop buying her flowers though. So, my gardening season starts a week earlier than most. I picked up two beautiful fuschia baskets yesterday and hung them up for my mom today.

Many thanks to Miss Deb, from At the Cottage, for the inspiration.